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Catherine Thompson

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Catherine Thompson is a reporter for Talking Points Memo. Before joining TPM, she worked as a research assistant to investigative reporter Wayne Barrett. She is a graduate of New York University, where she served as the deputy managing editor of NYU's student newspaper, the Washington Square News. She can be reached at catherine@talkingpointsmemo.com.

Republican politicians and conservative pundits alike have been apoplectic in recent days over President Obama's approach to combating the Islamic State terror group in the Middle East in general and his administration's hesitance to label the group's militants as Islamic in particular.

The outrage surged against a backdrop of brutal attacks carried out by the terror group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, as well as a pair of shootings at a free speech event and a synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark.

By Thursday, the right's rage had spiraled into a litmus test in which potential 2016 Republican presidential contenders were leaping to tell the public whether they believed Obama really "loves America."

In some ways, the latest test unfolded much the same way as the last one did. In that case, the issue of the moment was unexpectedly and suddenly about vaccine mandates.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) on Thursday kept on with an attack he reportedly made on Barack Obama's love for the country, calling the President a "patriot" who just doesn't quite love his nation to the extent Giuliani thinks its chief executive should.

NBC News anchor Brian Williams' daughter Allison, best known for her role on HBO's "Girls," made it clear Wednesday night that she was firmly in her father's corner as he grapples with a six-month suspension from the network.

Conservative politicians, pundits and bloggers have spent much of the last 48 hours railing against a junior State Department official they say made the U.S. look ridiculous when she argued that terrorism can’t be eliminated without increasing economic opportunities for young men in the Middle East.